I've had a bit of hard time figuring out what it is, precisely. At first glance, it would appear to be Wing Chun/JKD related. But according to "Martial Arts for Dummies" it's an American version of shootfighting. Anybody know who Varelans trained with back in the day? I know he later worked with Frank Shamrock and Brian Johnston.

I found a podcast where Paul Varelans is being interviewed by Jay Pagliaro and Heath Herring. His story there is that he was watching an early UFC with some football buddies (he played tackle at San Jose State in 1989; I don't know if he played semi-pro after that) and bet one of them $5 he could fight in the UFC. His background was high-school wrestling and some Tae Kwon Do and he trained for four months at his TKD "dojo" (his word) before fighting. There are some interesting reminiscences from fights in his career, too, for fans of MMA from the 1990s. He does not mention his teacher's name.

I found a podcast where Paul Varelans is being interviewed by Jay Pagliaro and Heath Herring. His story there is that he was watching an early UFC with some football buddies (he played tackle at San Jose State in 1989; I don't know if he played semi-pro after that) and bet one of them $5 he could fight in the UFC. His background was high-school wrestling and some Tae Kwon Do and he trained for four months at his TKD "dojo" (his word) before fighting. There are some interesting reminiscences from fights in his career, too, for fans of MMA from the 1990s. He does not mention his teacher's name.

I actually knew about his background in that respect from an interview he gave at IFC 1. I do think the dude was legitimately talented and could've been a good fighter if he started off in a modern training camp (God knows, though, you could probably say that about a lot of guys back in the day). Towards the end of his career, he was apparently preparing to go into boxing and it really showed in his hand skills (He also dropped weight). If that version of Varelans fought Marco Ruas, things probably would've gone better for him.

No just no. I mean **** you for making me watch that.

I want to see a Purple Dragon fighter go against someone who does Keichu-Do.